Rumbolz remembered for love of life, passion

Woman died doing what she enjoyed, family says

OKANOGAN  Charity Ranee Rumbolz was an Okanogan County native who loved the outdoors, riding ATVs and being with friends.

Rumbolz, 24, died Saturday when the ATV in which she was riding went off the road skirting Conconully Lake and plunged into 30 feet of water.

She grew up in Okanogan, graduating with the Class of 2007, and graduated from Eastern Washington University with a degree in communications.

Rumbolz worked for her dad, Rod Rumbolz, in Wenatchee, but wanted to return to the Omak-Okanogan area, said her mother, Sharon Rumbolz of Okanogan.

“This is home. This where her family is and her friends are,” she said.

Charity Rumbolz was an outdoors person who embraced life.

“She died doing what she wanted to do,” her mother said. “She was with people who loved her and she loved them.”

Charity Rumbolz and ATV driver Cain M. Bivins, 33, had been out with friends and were riding from Conconully to Fish Lake when the crash occurred.

Their families are longtime friends and the two had known each other since they were children, Sharon Rumbolz said.

“They were good friends,” Rod Rumbolz said.

Charity Rumbolz played volleyball and softball in high school, and was named an all-league player in softball. She excelled in art, and had a painting displayed in the North Central Educational Service District regional art show in Wenatchee.

She was homecoming queen during her senior year.

After high school, she attended Spokane Community College and Spokane Falls Community College, and spent her last two years of college at Eastern Washington University.

“She was a lot of fun. She had a great sense of humor,” her mother said.

The family has been supportive of Bivins and has said they don’t want him prosecuted.

“Our hearts go out to Cain and the Bivins family,” the Rumbolz family said in a tribute to their daughter.

Survivors include her parents and sister Courtney Rumbolz, a student at Eastern Washington University.

A service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday in Dawson Gym, 244 S. Fifth Ave., Okanogan. A dinner will follow at the Okanogan Eagles Club, 1820 N. Second Ave.

The family praised the efforts of the rescue crews who responded to the crash.

“It took them more than three hours to find her,” Sharon Rumbolz said. “A lot of people were there and helped.”